Tax Realty Consultant

Commissioners have agreed to hire an independent consultant to study the county’s finances and offer improvement advice.
If a proposal is submitted by April 1 to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, that agency would pay half the cost of the study.

“We are looking forward to this,” Commissioner Donna Gority said. “We felt there was a need to do this for a long time, but we didn’t have the resources.”

However, property tax reassessment isn’t likely to happen any time soon, unless someone sues the county to do it. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the last county reassessment.

‘‘There are not enough votes on the board to approve it,’’ said Gority, the only member of the new board in favor of reassessment. ‘‘I still believe it is something that needs to be done. I am hoping someone will sue us.’’

Gority said she believes commissioners have a constitutional duty to move forward with tax reassessment because the present system is not fair.

‘‘We are burdened by what the state chooses to give us.” Gority said. “We need an opportunity to levy other taxes and reduce the burden on property taxes.’’

Although opposed to reassessment, Tomassetti said counties are not treated fairly. He cited the aftermath of the recent $101 million sale of Logan Town Centre as an example of how counties get shortchanged. While the state Department of Revenue received $1.23 million and the Altoona Area School District and Logan Township each received more than $495,000, Blair County received $30,433 from the sale.

In the meantime, commissioners will take steps to try to avoid last-minute budget problems this year.

‘‘We need to re-examine how we operate,” Tomassetti said. ‘‘We need monthly budget variance reports from the various departments. We have to have regular monthly reviews and meet with the department heads to make sure they are on budget.’’

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